‘The Tort Wars, at a Turning Point’

More on this later, but here’s a link to an excellent article entitled, “The Tort Wars, at a Turning Point” by Jonathan Glater in today’s New York Times about the shenanigans by both trial lawyers and seemingly unscrupulous doctors in the area of asbestos and silica. US District Court Judge Janis Graham Jack — appointed by Bill Clinton – has taken some extraordinary steps to rein in what sure smells like fraud in the filing of thousands of dual asbestosis and silicosis claims for people — are you sitting down? — who may not even be sick. Apparently federal prosecutors in New York have begun investigating the claims and have issued subpoenas in the case.

Says Glater,

“By playing courtroom hardball, forcing lawyers for claimants to produce evidence that their clients had silicosis symptoms and deserved compensation, a small group of defense lawyers may have just changed the rules of so-called mass tort litigation.”

Forcing people to show they had symptoms and deserved compensation now qualifies as “hardball”? Wow.

In any event, as we said, more to follow, but this is a must-read article for anyone concerned about abuse of the legal system. It is, in legal parlance, a whopper.